As everyone said, most chains do have their nutritional facts available online. If you're really not 100% sure, ask someone at the restaurant - but try to not bother them when they're super busy, it'll just irritate them if they feel overwhelmed and you want the best answers - ask how they cook it, do they add grease, do they add anything in particular, is it measured out or do they know about how much - ask questions! You have every right!

And, if they really seem to have an issue with the questioning, just say certain places use certain things and you have food allergies to so, to air on the side of caution, you want to make sure you don't have to stab yourself with an EPI pen and be rushed to the ER so you don't die if your throat closes up - they should loosen up (if they don't, you may wan to find another establishment who actually cares about the well-being of their clientele).

Sometimes, especially if it's a chain restaurant, you can look up the nutrition information on the web. McDonalds and Taco Bell do for sure. I've never searched for a big chain like Red Lobster, but I'm pretty sure that they do. I am pretty sure that most restaurants add butter to their steaks and so I ask for them not to put butter on it. I do a search on Spark People for the food I ate if I can't find the information otherwise. I choose something that is close to what I ate and put it down.

I try to get things as close as possible to what they really are, so I measure a lot of foods. I try not to eyeball anything. This keeps me honest.

Thanks to both of you for your support. I counted the filet as 5 oz of salmon and a tablespoon of olive oil. And two tablespoons of dressing plus the other things in the salad. It was arund 500 kc. I just get nervous because I have fooled myself for so long about food, I want to be as honest as I can. Last week I went to a mediterranean place and ordered a salad and an entre that I thought would be pretty healthy. I didn't eat the fried pita chips that lined the plate. But even so, I calculated my whole lunch over 700 kc! I still made it within my range for the day but I am becoming very aware of how much eating out can sabotage me. I will take your suggestions and continue on my road.

Best guess, unless it's a big chain with nutritional info available online.

I tend to err on the side of caution (which probably means i am OVERestimating calorie content of my restaurant foods). Yes, I typically would add either "an extra ounce over what i think it weighed" or would put on a tsp of oil to account for basting. If i get salad with dressing mixed in instead of on the side, i'll assume 2-3 tbsp (especially if it's "thick").

Just curious how others track food when you eat out. I stopped at a local restaurant and got a salad with a salmon filet on top. I know how to count most of it . . . vegetables, a couple of dates, etc. It was dressed with champagne vinaigrette so I just found an entry for that and used it. The salmon was "short smoked"--not really lox, it was definitely a filet but it had a smoky taste. I counted it as 5 oz. of salmon. But should I count some oil for that too, since it was probably basted? How do others track on meals when you didn't prepare it yourself?

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